Press platen



Patented Oct. 30, 1951 2,572,972 PRESS FLA-TEN smiha d N Ba dwi en d a a i v to BaldWin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application May 6, 1947, Serial No. 746,285

2 Claims. (Cl. 257-256) My invention relates generally to temperature controlled platens for presses which generally employ a plurality of plates or platens for applying in a well-known manner pressure and heat simultaneously to moldable sheet-like materials, and relates more particularly to improvements in the construction of the platens for permitting the heating medium passages thereof to be formed economically together with a high degree of flexibility as to the location of the external inlet and outlet ports.

Steam platens used in presses of this type usually consist of a relatively thin horizontally dis,- posed plate having a plurality of connected passages drilled between the broad parallel surfaces of the platen, to provide a continuous conduit for the circulation of a heating, and in some instances a cooling, fluid medium. In order that the platen may be evenly and completely heated by the medium, these connected passages are evenly distributed through the plate so that the fluid passing therethrough will travel to all working areas of the platen. This means that in platens of this type the inlet and exhaust connections are usually located at opposite ends or sides of the plate. As it is sometimes necessary, however, to attach to these ends or sides of the platen various attachments or accessories, such as guides and hangers, the location of the inlet and exhaust connections at these points interferes with the attachment of such accessories, rendering the platen unusable in these instances.

An object of my invention is to provide a steam platen that will enable the inlet and exhaust connections to be placed at various points on the edges of the platen so as not to interfere with the attachment of guides, hangers and roller brackets thereto when required.

A further object is to provide a platen having the above characteristics whose drilled passages will be closed in a simple and inexpensive manner and without the use of individual plugs.

Other objects and advantages will be more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the accompanying drawings in which:-

Fig. 1 is a sectional plan view of a steam platen or hot plate employing my invention;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the platen with parts thereof broken away for the sake of clarity; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail of the platen taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. l in the direction of the arrows.

In the particular embodiment of the invention which is disclosed herein merely for the purpose of illustrating one specific form among possible others that the invention might take in practice, I show a platen or plate made up of three sections, one being a large central section I and two being edge sections 2 and 3. While the platen shown in the drawings is rectangular, it may of course be square or an other desired shape. Approximately parallel with each other and with the ends 4 and 5 of the platen is a plurality of internally formed passages 6, a wall 1 between the two most centrally located passages dividing the passages into two separate groups for the purpose hereinafter more fully explained. As the two halves of the platen, as divided by wall I, are identical, being merely in reverse order to each other for the sake of clarity I use the same reference numerals to designate corresponding parts in both hal es, unless otherwise indicated. These internally formed pas sages 6 are made by drilling, in the usual manner, through the plate from one edge thereof to and through the opposite edge in a plane parallel with the broad surfaces of the platen. To connect together the passages of each group, as they are shown connected in Fig. 1, the metal .of successively alternate ends of the dividing .walls between adjacent passages is milled .out or burned away, to form connecting passages 8 and 9, dividing wall I, however, being left intact.

To effectively complete the connecting passages in a simple and economical manner while at the same time providing the desired degree of flexibility of attachment of hangers, etc., to the platen, I provide the pair of heavy edge strip sections 2 and 3 which abutt against the sides of the center section for the full length thereof .and are welded thereto by longitudinal seams l2.

These strips have a thickness equal to the thickness of the platen and as the welding is applied all around the juncture between the strips and the center section, it is seen that not only are the strips securely held to the plate but also the seams are sealed against the escape of fluidf It :is seen that this construction provides two internally formed continuous conduits which are not connected to each other. It is evident that instead of two independent conduits, as shown in the drawings, a greater number of independent conduits could be formed in the same manner or that but one conduit could be employed. To obtain flexibility of location of external inlet and outlet connections, the heavy strip 2 has two; axially aligned longitudinal manifold passages 15, while the other heavy strip 3 has similar manifold passages it, both of said passages being completely self-contained within the strips by reason of the passage circumference being formed or enclosed entirely by material of the strip. These manifold passages, which are approximately at right angles to drilled passages 6 of the platen, are formed by drilling into the ends of the strips towards the center but stopping short thereof to keep the passages separate. Plugs H in the ends of passages l and It seal the same against the escape of fluid. By this arrangement of manifold passages I can easily provide an external intake port l8 for passage at any point along the length of its particular half and each exhaust port [9 may connect with passage 16 at any point along its particular half, thus allowing guides and hangers to be attached to the outer edges of heavy strips 2 and 3 at the points indicated by threaded holes or at any other convenient points with no interference from the inlet and outlet connections. The manifold passages i5 are connected to the platen passages 6 by internal inlet ports 2| in the inner wall of edge strip 2 and while passages l6 are connected by internal exhaust ports 22 formed in the inner wall of heavy strip 3. Small bleed holes 23 and 24 connect the manifold passages 15 and 16 with platen passages 6. These bleed holes are merely to induce circulation of the fluid in those portions of passages [5 between external intake ports l8 and the inner ends of said passages 15 and in those portions of passages 16 between the external exhaust ports I9 and the outer ends of said passages l6.

From the disclosure herein, it is seen that I have provided a simple, expedient and relatively inexpensive platen which possesses the novel advantages of allowing the external intake and exhaust ports 18 and I9 to be located at any selected points along the edges of the platen so as not to interfere with the affixing thereto of various attachments, and of enclosing the ends drilled edges of the platen, including the metal of the uncut ends of alternate and intermediate dividing walls, as shown in the drawings, also provide a simple and effective means for simultaneously enclosing and completing all connecting passages to prevent the escape of fluid from between the strips and the platen. This is accomplished merely by sealing the external lines of juncture of said members and leaving the contacting surfaces of the strips and platen edges in only abutting engagement.

It will of course be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A heating platen comprising a plate having an internal conduit whose ends extend to at 4 least one edge of the plate, a strip afl'ixed to said edge of the plate and having a longitudinally extending passage circumferentially enclosed entirely by material of the strip so as to be completely self-contained within the strip, said strip also having a laterally extending internal port for connecting one end of said passage with the internal conduit and another laterally extending port for connecting said passage to an external point, means providing another external connection which communicates with said conduit so that, a fluid medium may circulate from one external connection through said conduit to the other external connection, a bleed port from said longitudinal passage to the internal conduit, said bleed port being located at the end of said passage opposite to that at which said internal port is located and being smaller than the latter so as to maintain circulation of a heating medium through said opposite end of the longitudinal passage while allowing the main portion of the heating medium to flow through said internal port.

2. A temperature controlled platen comprising a plate having a plurality of drilled passages approximately parallel with each other and extending through the plate from one edge thereof to the opposite edge, the drilled passages being spaced from each other by dividing walls whose successively alternate ends are cut away to connect pairs of drilled passages adjacent to such cutaway ends, at least one such dividing wall being left intact, so that the drilled passages are separated into groups, and strips each having longitudinal passages therein circumferentially enclosed entirely by material of the strip so as to be completely self-contained within the strip and being affixed to opposite edges of the plate in abutting engagement therewith to close said cutaway portions for connecting the drilled passages and to provide as many independent, continuous conduits as there are groups of drilled passages, and each of said strips having laterally extending internal ports for connecting said longitudinal passages with the ends of the independent continuous conduits and laterally extending external ports for introducing a fluid into at least one of the longitudinal passages and for discharging it from at, least one of the other longitudinal passages.

SOUTHARD N. BALDWIN.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number Name Date 1,664,628 Kessler Apr. 3, 1928 1,884,612 Dinzl Oct. 25, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 391,142 Germany Feb. 29, 1924 

